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BBC Radio 4

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BBC Radio 4 <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Image:R4logo.jpg</td></tr><tr><th>Broadcast area</th><td>UK - National FM, LW,MW & DAB</td></tr><tr><th>First air date</th><td>September 30 1967</td></tr><tr><th>Frequency</th><td>FM - 92 MHz - 95 MHz
LW - 198 kHz
MW - various
Live Stream Real/WM</td></tr>
Format News & Speech
Owner BBC

<tr><th>Website</th><td>www.bbc.co.uk/radio4</td></tr>

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of chiefly spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It is broadcast on 92-95 MHz FM (95.8 MHz in central Scotland, 96 MHz in Greater Belfast, and 103-104.5 MHz in parts of Wales) and 198 kHz longwave (Medium wave in some areas; e.g. 720 kHz in London and Northern Ireland); and via DAB, satellite (FM is broadcast on Sky channel 0104 and LW is broadcast on Sky channel 0143), selected Cable television providers, Freeview channel 704 and the Internet. In Ireland it is available as channel 910 on NTL Digital Cable television. It superseded the BBC Home Service, in 1967. The current controller of radio 4 is Mark Damazer. The previous controller was Helen Boaden who is the current head of BBC News. The most famous — and controversial — controller in recent years was James Boyle.

Radio 4 is the second most popular British domestic radio station after Radio 2, and was awarded "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2004 Sony Radio Academy Awards for the second year running. [1] With a budget of £69 million (2004/5), it is the BBC's most expensive national radio network and is considered by some to be the corporation's flagship channel. There is no UK commercial network comparable. Music and sport are the only fields that fall outside the station's remit. There are occasional concerts and ball-by-ball commentaries of most test matches played by England cricket are broadcast on long wave. Because the long-wave service can be received clearly at sea in the vicinity of the British Isles, Radio 4 also carries regular weather forecasts for shipping and gale warnings.

Contents

[edit] History

See the main article BBC Home Service

The BBC Home Service was the original name for Radio 4 and was on the air from 1939 until 30 September 1967. It had regional variations and was broadcast on medium wave with a network of VHF FM transmitters being added from 1955. Radio 4 began on 30 September 1967, when the BBC renamed its domestic radio stations.

[edit] Programmes and schedules

The Radio 4 Website Schedule Page shows the running order for the day.

Radio 4 splits from the World Service at 0520, with a brief introduction from the early shift continuity announcer. The 5-minute "Radio 4 UK Theme" (composed by Fritz Spiegl) would follow but was dropped in April 2006 after 33 years in favour of an extension to the early news bulletin [2], despite some public opposition and a campaign to save it. After the continuity link and a programme trail there is the shipping forecast, weather reports from coastal stations for 0400GMT and inshore waters forecasts, followed at 0530 by a news bulletin, a review of the papers, British and international, and a business report. On weekdays, the Today programme runs from 0600 to 0900. On, or after the hour, a news bulletin is broadcast — this is sometimes a 2-minute summary, a longer piece as part of a current affairs programme, or at 1pm,6pm and midnight a 30-minute broadcast (15-minute weekends).

At 1200, FM has a 4-minute bulletin whilst long wave has the headlines and then the Shipping Forecast; for the same reason, long wave leaves the PM Programme on weekdays at 1754.

There is a news programme or bulletin (depending on the day) at 2200, then the Midnight News at 0000, followed by (on weekdays) a repeat of Book of the Week. The tune "Sailing By" is then played until 0048, when the Late Shipping Forecast is broadcast. Radio 4 ends with the national anthem, "God Save The Queen" and the World Service takes over from 0100 until 0520.

Many Radio 4 programmes are pre-recorded. The daily live programmes are the Today programme, magazine programme Woman's Hour, consumer affairs programme You And Yours, and music, film, books, arts and culture programme Front Row. Continuity is managed from Broadcasting House whilst news bulletins (including the hourly summaries and longer programmes such as the "Six O' Clock News" and "Midnight News") and news programmes (such as Today, The World at One, PM, etc.) are based at the BBC News Centre at Television Centre in White City. They were moved there in 1998 when the News Centre was opened to house both radio and TV news. News is due to return to Broadcasting House in 2008.

The Greenwich Time Signal (known as "the pips") is broadcast hourly, sometimes as part of a programme.

On DAB, the channel has a secondary channel which makes the long wave Yesterday in Parliament and the Daily Service and their rival programmes on FM available.

[edit] Current programmes

Many programmes are available from Radio 4's Listen Again page, although RealNetworks' RealPlayer is required (the BBC has arranged for this to be free to UK listeners by following links from the BBC website).

The BBC Radio 4 website groups programmes into various genres:

[edit] News and current affairs

[edit] Arts and drama

[edit] Religion and ethics

[edit] Comedy and quizzes

Serious quizzes
Panel games
Sketch shows
Sitcoms
Comedy dramas

[edit] Conversations

[edit] Factual

[edit] Science

[edit] Miscellaneous

[edit] Former programmes

Many programmes from the Radio 4 archives can now be heard on BBC 7.

[edit] Presenters

[edit] Continuity announcers and newsreaders

Announcers link programmes, read adverts for programmes and read the Shipping Forecast. Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins.

Senior Announcers

Newsreaders / Continuity Announcers

Newsreaders (non-Today programme) / Continuity Announcers

Newsreaders (non-Today programme)

Continuity Announcers

Former staff

[edit] See also

[edit] References

<references />

[edit] External links

BBC Radio stations
FM/AM: Radio 1 | Radio 2 | Radio 3 | Radio 4 | Radio Five Live
Digital: 6 Music | BBC 7 | 1Xtra | Five Live Sports Extra | Asian Network
Nations: Radio Scotland | Radio nan Gàidheal | Radio Wales | Radio Cymru | Radio Ulster | Radio Foyle
English Regions: BBC Local Radio
International: BBC World Service
de:BBC Radio 4

es:BBC Radio 4 fr:BBC Radio 4 no:BBC Radio 4

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